Sports Shorts: Real to appeal Zidane suspension over coaching licence

Real Madrid will appeal a three-month suspension slapped on assistant B team coach Zinedine Zidane for not having the correct licence, the club said on Monday.

The former Real and France midfielder was sanctioned by the Spanish football federation for allegedly acting as head coach of third tier Real Madrid Castilla even while Santiago Sanchez, who was also banned for three months, nominally held the post.

In a statement on their website (www.realmadrid.com), Real expressed their "absolute disagreement with the decision" and said they would "pursue every available legal avenue so that this decision is overturned".

"Not least because Zinedine Zidane has been authorised by the French football federation (FFF) to work as a head coach in the category Real Madrid Castilla currently play in, as the certificate issued by the federation from Oct. 2014 states," they added.

A World Cup winner with France in 1998, when he scored two goals in the final against Brazil, Zidane played for Real from 2001 until his retirement in 2006.

The 42-year-old also netted a spectacular volley for Real to win the 2002 Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen.

Castilla were relegated from the second division last season, before Zidane joined the coaching staff. They are currently 14th in Group 2 of the regional four-group "Segunda B", or third tier.

Nigeria face yet another FIFA suspension

Nigeria face another suspension from FIFA that would not be lifted until May, putting the country out of the running for a place at 2015 African Nations Cup finals.

The Jos High Court ruled last Thursday that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) elections on September 30 that elected Amaju Pinnick president be declared null and void, throwing the country’s football back into crisis.

After Nigeria were twice suspended this year for government interference in the NFF, FIFA confirmed in a letter to the NFF in the lead-up to their latest elections that more meddling would bring about an automatic suspension to run at least until FIFA’s elective congress in May 2015.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou had a meeting with Nigerian officials in Windhoek, Namibia on Saturday ahead of the final of the African Women’s Championships that saw the Super Falcons defeat Cameroon.

Nigerian media reported Hayatou told sports minister Tammy Danagogo that unless the latest court order is reversed, FIFA will act on Monday. As yet, there have been no signs of that.

Justice Ambrose Allagoa ruled last week that the elective congress of the NFF on Sept. 30 should not be recognised as the Jos High Court had put in place 11 days earlier an order that the elections could not be held.

This injunction was brought by two members of the previous NFF executive led by Chris Giwa, which was stripped of its authority after elections that took it to power were deemed invalid by FIFA.

The court order was ignored by the NFF, which went ahead with their Sept. 30 congress and the Pinnick-led executive was put in place.

Justice Allagoa has ruled, however, that the original injunction remains in place and therefore the Sept. 30 congress should not be recognised.